Brotherhood
by Portuguese Irish
Summary: Two mercenaries are given an important mission: to bring a Monolithian, alive, for interrogation. However, things get a bit out of control.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's note:** I figured posting just one other story I've been working on (instead of uploading The Snork) couldn't do harm. :3 So here, have 3 chapters in a row!

I hope you enjoy.

* * *

The Monolith was gone.

His presence was no longer felt, His voice no longer heard.

Many took their own lives, unable to go on without a leader. Many more remained, defending their territory, doing everything they could so that the Monolith would come back and bestow His grace upon them again. Some left, lost and confused, claiming they were going in a Crusade to find the Monolith.

The Crusaders were never seen again.

Others, like Blade, remained. Even if they were simply empty shells, shadows of their former selves. Like automats, they moved, talked, aimed and shot. But their willpower was gone, and so was the fight in them, and they were found curled on the ground and crying with alarming frequency, like abandoned children.

The Monolith was all those men knew. The Monolith was all Blade knew.

His absence was ghastly felt. In a moment, He was there, guiding them, protecting them… and in the other there was emptiness; no divine presence to reassure them, no voice taming their fears and telling them what to do. With the Monolith gone, so were the promises of a better life, of a reward for their loyal behaviour and faithful services. With the Monolith gone, they had to deal with the uncertainty of life, with the silent streets and dark corners, with horrid mutants and waves of intruders trying to take their home away from them.

Blade was a leader, but by no means such a good leader like the Monolith. He did his best to keep his men's spirits, keep them fighting and believing in their cause. Yet they could feel the fight leaving him as well, and his willpower and charisma dropped day by day.

In the end, Blade was the last man standing protecting the entrance to Pripyat. His men were either dead or lost to themselves. All of his brothers' lives depended on him, and him alone.

Blade himself was no better than his men. Besides having to fight his own empty and scared mind, he was starting to feel pain again, and tiredness, and cold. He wasn't young and had fought many battles, so those were weaknesses he could not afford. He could not be weak. He had to keep fighting for the Monolith, he had to prove himself worthy of serving Him.

He had to give the Monolith a reason to return.

So one night, when he was standing guard in the tunnel that allowed a passage from Pripyat to the outside Zone, pacing back and forth with silent steps, he was treacherously attacked by the back. Blade did his best to fight off his attacker and took advantage of the hand-to-hand combat to make good use of his hunting knives.

He was good with knives, hence his brothers referring to him as Blade. With time, that became his name, and Blade knew no other name for himself.

But he wasn't insensitive to pain and fatigue anymore, and his opponent was a fighter as good as he.

Ultimately, Blade suffered a blow from the right, a blow he had failed to see. The blow itself wasn't strong enough to put him down, just left him with a slight headache. No, what made him freeze and kneel, slowly, finally giving up, was the fact that _he had not seen_.

Blade's right eye had been covered in mist since Blade could remember. Yet the Monolith, pleased with his service, had granted him the ability to see again from his blind eye.

Now, that he couldn't see anymore, Blade was sure of it.

The Monolith had abandoned him.

There was nothing left for him worth fighting for. Not even his own life, because without the Monolith there was no life.

* * *

"Hammer? Man, you there?"

"Yeah. You made it!"

"'course I did! Hatchet's going to be proud of us!"

Hammer signaled him it was safe to leave the tunnel, so the mercenary – Blue – happily trotted out of tunnel pushing his prisoner along. Blue and Hammer had done something no one ever had: capture a Monolithian alive and take him to interrogation:

"Come on, this place is full of dogs," Hammer grumbled, motioning with his head the several dead dogs scattered around his hiding-place, where he had been guarding the entrance to the underground level to assure his comrade's safety. "What took you so long?"

Pushing the Monolithian forwards with the muzzle of his rifle, Blue used his other hand to open the closed cycle breathing system -or «aquarium», as Hammer called it- and took a moment to enjoy the feeling of fresh air against his flushed cheeks. Hammer found a way to fit the expensive gear inside Blue's overloaded backpack, while urging his comrade to put on his usual gas mask again and get the hell out of that place:

"You know damn well there's gas and mutants in that tunnel," Blue said, and when he finally resolved he had had enough of fresh air and put on his gas mask, both mercenaries strode out of the Jupiter Factory, dragging their prisoner along. They almost made it undisturbed, but a pack of bling dogs leaded by a massive pseudodog began to chase them when they were still inside the factory complex and followed them outside, through the vegetation.

The mercenaries didn't want to waste ammo and time with the mutants, so they opted for running the faster they could. Their prisoner had no other choice than running along, with his hands firmly tied with rope behind his back and his shoulder under the iron grip of Blue.

They ran down the road, with the canal of water at their right and the dogs behind them. Fortunately, the dogs decided to leave them alone once the men reached the swampy area that kept the canal next to the road full of water.

Upon realising they weren't being chased anymore, the mercenaries left the road and decided to stop a bit by the waterside and catch their breath. Hammer, after avidly emptying a can of energy drink, studied their prisoner for a moment; an average-sized, yet sturdy, man wearing a Monolith suit with the typical splinter pattern urban camo, though the tactical vest and the carrying pouches were missing. The man's face was bony and heavily scarred, with what appeared to be shrapnel scars crossing the right side of his face all the way down his forehead, across his eye and down to the corner of his mouth. In fact, the Monolithian's right eye was misty and lifeless, unmoving, with the eyelid slightly drooped and barely able to move and blink. His nose was crooked, having been broken several times, and both his head and face were completely shaved. The Monolithian had the gait of a dead man standing and his other eye, green, stared unmoving to the horizon. Hammer frowned:

"If there's gas in the tunnel, how the fuck did you manage to make him go through it without headgear?" he asked his comrade. Blue, checking the ropes around the prisoner's wrists, shrugged:

"He was simply standing at the other end of the tunnel with just a balaclava covering his face. I don't know, I heard Pripyat's a pretty toxic place, maybe this guy's so used to it that gas won't make nothing to him…" Satisfied, he let go of the ropes, held the Monolithian by the shoulder and pushed him forwards again. "The bastard's a pretty good fighter, though. And you should have seen all the knives I found on him! For a moment I thought I wouldn't make it, but then puf!, he gave up and just sunk to his knees and didn't resist anymore! A miracle, I dare to say! Now come on, we have to go!"

Hammer nodded and stood up from the rock where he had taken a sit. Stretching lazily, he nearly lost his balance when Blue threw his heavy backpack against him:

"You did nothing all day, the least you can do is carrying that for me," Blue said, grinning inside his gas mask. Though Hammer had a gas mask as well, Blue knew his comrade was mimicking his face:

"I kept your back safe! I made sure no more mutants or something else was getting in that place while you were there! Such a great friend you are, Blue!" Hammer replied with mock offense. He grabbed his comrade's backpack nonetheless, and followed Blue and the prisoner.

Their objective was the Yanov Station. Duty had hired Hatchet to get them a Monolithian they could interrogate, obtain useful information from and then launch a powerful attack on Pripyat and take control of the city. Despite not wanting anything else to do with the Zone, Hatchet had laughed, claiming no one would ever be able to obtain information from a Monolithian, but had decided to help Duty anyway. Blue and Hammer, his best dynamic duo, had been assigned for the job.

And Blue and Hammer had made it, and things were going nice and smooth. The Monolithian was alive and eerily cooperative, not putting up fights or attempting to suicide to avoid capture, like the two mercenaries thought would be the logical reaction from the guy. For Blue and Hammer, this had everything to work out.

That, of course, if that bloodsucker hadn't materialised out of nowhere and getting hold of Hammer.

A minute was all it took. Hammer screamed in pain when the mutant attacked him from behind, clawing at him and biting his neck. Blue, startled by his comrade, was momently frozen and when he realised what was happening, lost precious seconds trying to figure out what to do: let go of the prisoner for a moment or drag him along while trying to stab the bloodsucker.

Blade was left alone for a moment, as Blue attacked the bloodsucker with a knife and tried to make it release Hammer.

The Monolithian observed the commotion with his green eye, his blank and lethargic mind coming to life slowly. What if that mutant had been sent by the Monolith to distract the mercenaries and allow him to escape? Or was it just luck? Or simply meant nothing? Should Blade run? Should Blade stay? Would he manage to escape, with his hands tied behind his back and no weapons?

Blade spent too much time thinking and trying to figure out the meaning of the bloodsucker; Blue managed to kill it, strode to where Blade was standing, grabbed his forearm in an iron grip again and pulled him to where Hammer had fallen, clutching to his neck:

"Shit…" Blue hissed, kneeling and forcing the prisoner to kneel as well. "Shit… Hammer, hold on ok? You're going to be fine!"

"Yeah, and you're going to be rich…" Hammer replied weakly. Blood gushed between his fingers, where the bloodsucker had punctured the suit, skin, flesh and an important arteria. By the corner of his eye, he noticed Blue trying to reach one of their medkits, one-handed, while keeping hold of the Monolithian. "Go away, Blue. That's useless and you're wasting time!"

"Shut up!" Blue grumbled, trying desperately to reach the medkit through the contents of his backpack. Why had he such a stuffed backpack, anyway? And why were the necessary things precisely at the bottom of the backpack?

Hammer opened his mouth to tell his comrade to get going, when the weather began to get stormy. Blade frowned slightly; he should have run, there was a blowout coming…

Cursing at the top of his lungs, Blue gave up on the medkit and tried to pull Hammer to a sitting position and then help him to stand up. Yet the other mercenary pushed him away and smiled:

"You know that's useless… Get the hell out of here while you still can, finish the fucking mission and drink for the both of us, ok? I want you to keep my share of the money and all the crap that's in my stash... you know where it is."

Blue clenched his jaw apprehensively. He didn't want to leave Hammer behind; Hammer had welcomed him into Hatchet's group, had helped him during his rookie years and had become a friend. With an angry snarl, he pulled the gas mask off Hammer's face and was greeted by a weak smile and his face ashen with the life slowly draining out of him. Deep down, Blue knew Hammer would die before they made it to a shelter, and probably brining his dying friend would make it impossible for him and the prisoner to find shelter and survive the emission.

Taking a deep breath and with a steady hand, Blue took his Kora 919 from its holster and aimed at Hammer's head:

"Farewell, friend," he mumbled. Hammer nodded:

"Farewell, friend."

* * *

Avoiding the swampy area, Blue forced Blade to run at maximum speed. The sky was reddening and the world trembled with unleashed energy and the sound of thunder.

Blade was busier thinking than running, much for Blue's dismay, who had to keep towing the Monolithian.

Blade wondered if the bloodsucker, and now the blowout, were signs of the Monolith. Now there was only one captor, and even though he tried to hide it Blade could sense he was emotionally disturbed and the stress of having to find shelter wasn't helping. Maybe this was his chance to get away. Or was this just coincidence, and he was imagining things?

Finally, after running for what felt like ages, they reached the north-western tunnel. Not the brightest of choices, Blue knew, but it would have to do. They made it safely into the end of the tunnel right on time; the world trembled with more violence and turned red.

In a fit of rage, Blue pushed his prisoner against the wall and yelled, his voice muffled by the gas mask.

Blade broke free from the lethargic state he was in; he could take advantage of that sudden distress. Maybe this whole situation was indeed the Monolith's doing, maybe He wanted Blade to prove himself capable of surviving and, therefore, assure his worthiness of serving Him. The Monolithian's green eye, that had been so static and lifeless until the moment, sparked to life and started to follow all of Blue's movements. He watched as the mercenary paced around nervously, distracted, and waited. He had to wait for the blowout to pass, and for the perfect opportunity to escape.

Blue didn't take long to calm down, though, and he returned to where he had pushed the Monolithian, grabbed his shoulder in an iron grip again and looked ahead, to the far entry of the tunnel, watching the blowout outside.

The world rumbled and trembled for a while, the sound of thunder filled the air and red flashed every now and then. But, slowly, everything calmed down.

And just when Blue was about to sigh and push Blade forwards, he heard steps approaching them and the unmistakable babbling and moaning of zombified stalkers. He couldn't see them yet, but soon they would be close enough to open fire:

"Shit…" Blue cursed sadly and pushed Blade forwards. They had to get out of there; Blue couldn't risk getting his prisoner killed… nor himself.

But as they approached the end of the tunnel, the zombified stalkers began to shoot, and the mercenary though it would be wise to shoot back, even if just to create a distraction, lest the zombified stalkers follow them.

And, as he let go of Blade, just enough time to position his rifle, aim, and shoot, the Monolithian lost no time overthinking things. This had to be the Monolith coming to his aid, providing him the means to escape, go back to Pripyat and fight for what was right. Upon reaching the safety of Pripyat, Blade would be able to assure his brothers that they had not been forsaken.

Blade ran with surprising ease and agility for someone who had his hands tied behind his back:

"What-SHIT!" Screw the zombified stalkers, Blue sprinted after the Monolithian with bullets flying next to his head. "STOP OR I'LL SHOOT YOU IN THE FUCKING LEG!"

Blade couldn't care less; the Monolith would help him! The Monolith would guide him! All he had to do was to follow his heart, that told him to go north. Running through vegetation, he had the advantage of not having an overloaded backpack, a gas mask and a rifle. As long as he kept running in a straight like on perfectly horizontal ground, the hands tied behind his back wouldn't disturb his balance.

He would return to the Monolith. He would give his brothers the good news. They would reorganize themselves, find a way to destroy that blasted underground entry and seal once and for all the only entrance that allowed the enemies of the Monolith to invade their territory.

Blade was so busy thinking about the glory of the Monolith that he didn't notice he had started to climb a small elevation in the terrain… nor that Blue was getting close. And when Blade noticed this, he also realised that, even though his heart told him to go north… his legs had taken him south!

The Monolithian stopped abruptly on the top of the small elevation, in a panic; where was he? He looked around, observing the unknown surroundings with his widened green eye, but the mere seconds he had before Blue accidentally collided with him, sending them both rolling down the abrupt slope after the small elevation, was not enough for Blade to find out where he was and where to go.


	2. Chapter 2

Rolling and tumbling down the slope, the two men eventually came to a halt when the ground levelled again. Blade rolled straight into a thick bush that stopped him. Blue, however, collided with a rock, but luckily for him his backpack took all the impact (something cracked ominously, probably energy drink cans and the expensive «aquarium»).

Monolithian and mercenary stood still for a while, groaning in pain, trying to recover just enough to keep going. Blue couldn't open the hand that was clutching to his precious rifle.

Then, slowly, Blade scrambled to his feet, wriggled away from the bush and half-ran, half-trotted away, looking everywhere like a maniac, trying to figure out how to go north. Seeing his prisoner attempting to escape for the second time that day, Blue jumped to his feet and, ignoring the enormous crack in one of the lenses of his gas mask, darted off behind Blade.

They ran, trotted, limped and overall tried to keep up with each other until they reached another swampy area. While trying to run in the water, Blade slipped, lost his balance and fell. Blue cursed and sprinted to save his prisoner from drowning, even though the water wasn't that deep.

Blue successfully dragged a bewildered and coughing Blade out of the water and knocked him down with the butt of his rifle, cursing himself for not having thought about this simple method earlier:

"Shit, I hate you! I've just spent a couple of hours with you, but I HATE you!" Blue grumbled, kneeling and removing his backpack. He rummaged through it, throwing away the broken cans and cursing all the energy drink soaking the contents of his backpack. Hopefully, the «aquarium» could be fixed… Hammer would find that hilarious, were he there… Finally, the mercenary found a spare piece of rope and used it to tie the Monolithian's ankles. "Now, I want to see you run away…"

Standing up again, Blue noticed his right ankle felt a little sore. Probably from that embarrassing fall down the slope… Ignoring it, he hoisted the Monolithian up, carrying him on his shoulders like a giant lamb, and looked up to the sky.

He wouldn't make it to the Yanov Station before nightfall, and walking in the Zone alone with a prisoner that had to be delivered alive wasn't something to be done at night. Blue sighed, thinking; they were currently in Zaton, not far from the Boiler Anomaly… his best choice was trying to reach the Dredge Station.

He just hoped he wouldn't find anyone else; the lesser, the merrier. Adjusting the dead weight on his shoulders, Blue decided having his feet soaked would worth it, if going through the swampy area kept him away from stalkers at the Boiler Anomaly.

* * *

Blade grunted, awoken by a massive headache. He intended to rub the pain away, but soon discovered he couldn't move his arms.

The captor!

Blade's green eye widened and the Monolithian looked around frantically, assessing his situation. He was being carried and his wrists were still restrained behind his back. Not good. He tried to move his legs, that were restrained too. Terrific.

Blade thrashed and wriggled, trying to slip off Blue's shoulders.

The mercenary stopped suddenly and let out a hissing sigh, full of suffering. Blade was shorter than him, but heavier. If he kept like that, Blue would end up losing his balance and the two of them would fall in the shallow water. With a grunt, the mercenary smacked Blade's jaw with the butt of his rifle and the Monolithian stilled in shock. Wrapping one of his arms around Blade's legs with more strength and securing one of the Monolithian's arms in a firmer grip, Blue proceeded:

"I hate you, I can't wait to get rid of you…" he mumbled.

Blade opened his mouth widely, checking if his jaw was still in place, and cast the mercenary a murderous glance by the corner of his good eye. He had to escape. He must escape. Blade sighed and frowned slightly; the Monolith is great and wise, He will surely provide Blade the necessary aid. That, of course, if He isn't already disappointed by Blade's lack of escapade skills.

Yet while such depressing thoughts occurred to the Monolithian, the mercenary spotted, among the sandbanks ahead, two bandits robbing a rookie. A perfectly normal sight in the Zone, and Blue diverted his course to avoid the sandbank where the robbery was taking place. His change of route allowed Blade to see the scene too.

There, another sign of the Monolith! Time for Blade to use his rhetoric, an art and skill his brothers praised him for:

"Won't… you… help…" he asked, smiling slyly when the mercenary's steps hesitated suddenly. "You… no… help… he… dead…"

Blue stopped and glanced over his shoulder, meeting a wolfish grin that could mean no good. The mercenary had heard stories about stalkers that had spent so many years «serving» the Monolith they had forgotten who they were and had even forgotten how to speak properly, as they became living zombies. Blade's voice, monotone and flat, emotionless, and his jerky and halting speech, where a terrifying statement of the truth behind campfire stories.

The mercenary shook his head and proceeded his march. Blade frowned:

"Bad… man… He… die… no… help…"

"You don't even make sense…" Blue grunted, speeding up.

The rookie screamed and Blade felt his captor's steps hesitate again. He cleared his throat and tried again:

"He… die… he… once… you..."

Blade grunted as Blue threw him to the muddy ground of a sandbank and huffed, momently breathless, when the impact knocked the air out of him. He grunted again when Blue's booted feet collided with his side:

"I didn't sign up for this shit!" Blue hissed, enraged, because Blade had rubbed salt in a wound. He too had been a rookie, many years ago, and he too had had problems with a bandit. And he too would have died if Hammer hadn't showed up and scared the bandit away. And Hammer had been also carrying a prisoner and had returned to Hatchet's base with the mission accomplished and a recruit.

Blade's words, that Blue replayed in his mind, though carrying more venom than the original version, were a painful reminder that Hammer was gone. Had been gone for just a few hours, and would be gone forever.

The mercenary kicked the Monolithian until he finally wailed in pain. Satisfied, he hauled him up again and threw him over one of his shoulders. The rookie screamed again and Blue, cursing out loud everything and everyone, trotted to the sandbank where the rookie and the bandits were.

Despite the pain, Blade smiled victoriously; now there would be a gunfight between his captor and the bandits and that would give him the perfect opportunity to escape!

Striding to the sandbank with confident steps, the mercenary opened fire. One of the bandits fell dead immediately with a bullet in the head, the other managed to shoot back briefly before being mortally injured in the stomach. Blue's bullet-proof vest took the three bullets the bandit managed to fire. The mercenary checked Blade quickly, to be sure his prisoner hadn't been injured, then approached the rookie.

The rookie was a sobbing mess, curled in a tight ball in the ground, soaked and covered in wet dirt. Rolling his eyes, Blue poked him with a booted foot:

"There, you're free to go," he grumbled and walked past the rookie. Or better – limped. The pain in his ankle was stronger now and, much for Blue's dismay, appeared to be the kind of pain that should not be ignored. He really had to reach a safe place to put down Blade and rest a little…:

"You… no… help… he… alone… die…" Blade exclaimed, wriggling. That was it? The mercenary had already taken down the bandits? The Monolithian wasn't expecting that! He needed more time to conceive a new escape! Maybe if the mercenary stayed around the rookie for a bit longer, then Blade could figure out something.

But Blue ignored Blade this time and limped into the shallow water. Blade wriggled with renewed strength, now that he felt his captor limping a bit, but then noticed that the rookie had stood on shaky legs and was trotting after them. He immediately quieted down to study the situation.

The rookie trotted past the mercenary and stopped in front of him, blocking his way. Blue frowned behind his mask:

"You better get off my way…" he said:

"Thank you, sir! For… for helping!" the rookie replied meekly, shaking heavily. Blue sighed and dismissed the rookie with a gesture of his hand:

"Whatever… goodbye."

"Sir, I'm lost! Can I go with you?"

Blade raised the eyebrow on the good side of his face, interested. He thought about using his rhetoric on Blue again, but opted for using all his energy to pray to the Monolith.

Blue pushed the rookie away and kept going; the poor thing obviously ignored he was a mercenary, or he wouldn't be asking to tag along. For a second, Blue pitied the little fool, but that was none of his business:

"No," he sighed.

"But sir…!" The rookie was desperately insistent. He trotted after the mercenary, fiddling with his hands. "I-I'm lost, those bandits had been following me for a while and they took my weapons, I heard there're monsters- sir, you're limping, I can fix that!" And the rookie went on a full-speed ramble about his father, who was a physiotherapist and had taught him a couple of things.

Blue stopped again, annoyed, and stared menacingly at the rookie, who kept trying to convince him. The rookie was tall and, judging by how large the clothes fitted, should be skinny. A bandana covered the lower half of his face and his eyes -light brown- moved nervously and avoided Blue's gas mask lenses at any cost.

Rain began to pour down, heavily.

* * *

The group managed to take shelter inside the old ship at the Dredge Station without any more incidents. Blue was limping heavily by the time he decided they should stay locked in a small and tight cabin in an area of the boat most stalkers didn't use, since it was chilly and slightly damp for being in the lower part of the ship, in closer contact with the water.

It was with huge satisfaction that Blue threw Blade on the floor and straightened his back, grimacing under his gas mask:

"Are we lighting a fire?" the rookie asked, looking around the empty cabin; there weren't any boards that could be used, let alone a suitable container for a campfire. Blue, who had sat in front of the closed door, blocking it, got rid of his heavy backpack but kept clutching to his rifle:

"No, and you're going to fix me, as promised," the mercenary grumbled. From the corner where he had been unceremoniously dropped, Blade tilted his head and observed in silence as the rookie promptly dropped his backpack and went to kneel next to the mercenary. The rookie then proceeded to unlace Blue's right boot, which caused the mercenary to grunt in pain:

"Sir, I think you sprained your ankle," the rookie diagnosed upon peeling off Blue's sock. In fact, the area around the ankle was swollen and slightly bruised. Cautiously, the rookie tried to move Blue's foot.

The mercenary howled in pain and pulled his leg away:

" _Fix it_!" he ordered through gritted teeth. "Or I swear to god I'll drown you in these fucking swamps!"

Even more cautiously, the rookie began to massage the swollen area.

From his corner Blade watched, interested, and concluded his captor appeared to have a low pain resistance. That might prove useful in the future, and the Monolithian made a mental note of Blue's right ankle as a target and excellent weak spot to explore. Blade also concluded that the rookie seemed to know what he was doing, and that was even better; if he could fix ligaments, then snapping a neck wouldn't be a problem. Yes, Blade could use his rhetoric with the rookie, could use him to get rid of the mercenary. He just needed an opportunity to do such, because he knew the mercenary would never allow the rookie to listen to him.

Meanwhile, Blue decided he had had enough of touching and pressuring and moving his hurt ankle and pulled his leg away again:

"Are you done?" he grumbled. He had had a sprained ankle before, when he was a child. He didn't remember it being so painful and annoying. The rookie shrugged sheepishly:

"No, but-"

"Can I walk again?"

"I… I have to bandage you, sir-"

"Get on with it! I've a job to finish!"

"B-but you shouldn't move for a couple of weeks…"

"You have to bandage, don't you? Get on with it!" the mercenary growled angrily. Great, just _great_. He couldn't afford sitting there for a couple of weeks. He had to go to the Yanov Station, deliver the Monolithian alive, get paid, drink to Hammer's memory and go back triumphant to Hatchet's base. He would hop in one leg, if he had to! Then, after the mission was accomplished, he would be able to give his ankle a well-deserved rest.

The rookie bandaged his ankle tightly and, Blue hated to admit it, it made the injured area hurt even more than before. He didn't want to take a painkiller; the drug was quite strong and always left him drowsy and sleepy. He couldn't afford sleeping with a crazy Monolithian and a rookie he didn't know nearby.

Blue squeezed his eyes shut for a moment; this was probably the worst day of his life… maybe the second worst day of his life. Hammer would have found the situation hilarious… Eating would certainly do any kind of good to him, so Blue began to rummage through his backpack to look for something edible:

"You have food?" he asked the rookie. Much to his relief, the rookie nodded:

"Is he going to eat, sir?" the rookie asked, looking at Blade.

Blue found a can of tourist's delight, slightly dented from the impact of his backpack against the rock, hours before. He looked at his prisoner and decided the man wouldn't die of starvation if nobody gave him dinner. In fact… not giving him food at all would certainly make it easier for Blue to take him to the Yanov Station. He shook his masked head:

"No."

"But-"

"Tomorrow I'll drop you near Skadovsk, and I swear, rookie, if you ever tell anyone about this, I'll hunt you down and kill you!" Blue pointed a threatening index finger at the rookie, who shrunk into his jacket. "And I assure you… I'll kill you slowly and painfully."

Lifting his mask just enough to expose his mouth, Blue began to eat.

The rookie retreated to the corner opposite to Blade's and ate a diet sausage.

Then, for a long time, no one said a word. Blue was still firmly sat on the floor, blocking the door, clutching to both his backpack and rifle. The cold and humidity seemed unable to affect him. Blade was too busy studying his captor to notice hunger or the discomfort of the place he was in. The rookie, however, curled up the best he could, but still it didn't take long until he began to shake with cold.

Slowly, the weak light of dusk that had managed to pass through a small round window near the ceiling was slowly replaced by the cold and pale light of a full moon night. Blue, Blade and the rookie, who had been barely able to make out each other, could only see silhouettes sticking out of the dark.

As the night settled in, Blade noticed how Blue's body was still tense, how his head moved slightly as he looked from the Monolithian to the rookie. That wasn't good. Blade needed Blue to fall asleep so that he would have a chance to use his rhetoric on the rookie.

But the Monolith was great and wise.

Suddenly, shouts and roaring and gunfire was heard outside the boat. It wasn't particularly close, but it was too close for Blue's liking. He didn't need more people tagging along and he definitely did not need someone attacking him and his prisoner. The mercenary considered his options; he could send the rookie to see what was going on… but he didn't want to be double-crossed, or sold out… so sending the rookie was out of question; he could go check himself… despite his injured ankle. And despite having to leave the Monolithian alone, which he **did not** want.

Still, the second option seemed the best; he would be careful, just take a look and access the situation. He would not give out his position, and if whoever was outside intended to come in the boat, Blue would take them out with his rifle. He just needed to mount the scope.

With a sigh, the mercenary looked for the scope inside his backpack. Fortunately, the ungraceful fall from hours earlier hadn't damaged it. He clicked the night vision goggles in his mask to function and surveyed the little space he, his prisoner and the unwanted guest were in; both Monolithian and rookie were asleep. With expert ease, Blue mounted the scope on his rifle.

Then he changed to a kneeling position, as swiftly and silently as possible. Blade and the rookie were still sleeping. With a sigh, Blue used his rifle as a crane and pushed himself up, supporting most of his weight on his healthy leg. He tried to put some weight on his injured ankle and swallowed down a pained howl; that wasn't his brightest idea, but he would have to. Still using his rifle as a crane, he carefully pulled the old door open.

The door creaked softly and he stopped abruptly, looking around. But the commotion outside was still going on, and the Monolithian and the rookie were still asleep. Blue squeezed himself through the small opening he had managed, then grabbed his backpack, near the door, and pulled it with him. He closed the door again, as silently as possible, and limped outside causing as little noise as humanly possible for a limp heavy-loaded mercenary.

Once he heard the door closing again, Blade opened his eyes; just as he expected, the mercenary was gone. He wouldn't take long, though, so he had to hurry and seize the opportunity the Monolith had granted him. Blade looked to the corner opposite of his, where he knew the rookie was curled in the dark. He cleared his throat:

"You…" he called in the booming voice he used to address his troops.

The rookie remained still.

Cursing under his breath, Blade lost no more time; he rolled to where the rookie was, despite the discomfort caused by the way he was restrained and the earlier kicking of his side, until he was close enough to kick the rookie awaken. Which he did, and in the dark he saw the rookie's silhouette sit and crawl away while yelping and mumbling for help:

"You…" the Monolithian called again, and the rookie's silhouette stilled:

"S-sir?"

"Bad… man… leave… we… escape…" Blade appreciated this quality of his, of going straight to the point. The rookie was still in the same spot though, unmoving:

"What? Who-… what are these sounds? What's happening?" Yes, the rookie could hear it now; roaring and shouting and gunfire. And the cold was back and he started to shiver again. He looked around, uselessly; it was too dark to see… but he could outline a man not far from him, apparently the prisoner; the mercenary didn't speak like that. "Who are you?"

"We… escape…" Blade insisted, urgently. "We… escape… You… help… I… reward… you… bad… man… we… escape…"

The rookie frowned, feeling strangely hypnotised by that jerky and monotone speech. This was certainly the prisoner, the strange man the man in the dark blue uniform refused to talk about and had advised him not to get close to. What harm could a restrained man do to him? And who was the bad man the prisoner was talking about, was he referring to the man in the dark blue uniform? Who was this man, why had he been captured?

A shot sounded particularly louder and closer than all the others. The rookie wrapped his arms around himself, protectively; escaping right now didn't seem wise, no matter what the other man seemed to think:

"I… I think it's safer here…" the rookie said.

Blade narrowed his good eye. A rebellious soul, then. Very well, he knew how to deal with this. It would cost him time, and the escapade was definitely ruined, but Blade believed it would be an investment for the future. He smiled venomously, forgotten about the darkness and about the rookie's inability to see him:

"Why… you… here…" he asked, softly in his ears, but the same jerky and monotone speech for the rookie. When the rookie didn't answer, Blade decided to try another approach. "I… Blade…"

"I'm Nikolai…" the rookie uttered after a little hesitation. He noticed there was no more shouting, no more roaring, no more shooting. What if the man in the dark blue uniform had been killed?

"Why… you… here…" Blade insisted. At any moment, the mercenary would come back… were he still alive.

Nikolai shrugged and began to shiver with cold again:

"I need money…"

"We… escape… I… you… money…" Blade assured, snickering. With luck and skill – skill that he definitely had – he was going to turn that greedy soul into a warrior of the Monolith. Many had been greedy souls before:

"You can help me to get money?" Nikolai asked, hopeful, looking attentively to the silhouette of the man in front of him.

From the other side of the door, came the sound of approaching steps. Steps of someone who was walking with a limp.

Blade hurriedly rolled back to his corner. Right on time; the mercenary opened the door and looked at the prisoner, awaken but in the same spot… and at the rookie, who was also in the same spot… and also awaken. Blue had an immediate bad feeling about the whole thing:

"Why are you awaken?" he barked at the rookie, who flinched:

"I… I heard gunfire, sir!" Nikolai excused; the man in the dark blue uniform wouldn't like to know the truth.

Behind his mask, Blue narrowed his eyes; he didn't believe that. The crazy Monolithian had done something. He had surely been selling Monolithian bullshit to the rookie, and the rookie had certainly bought it all. Blue had to get rid of both Monolithian and rookie as soon as possible:

"Get up," he ordered the rookie and limped to his prisoner, using the sudden burst of adrenaline as an excuse to ignore the pain in his ankle. With his rifle hanging on his shoulder, Blue hauled Blade over his other shoulder. "We're leaving."


	3. Chapter 3

Blade, who initially had been transported on the mercenary's shoulders, was now being half-dragged, half-used as a crutch. If his captor kept walking like that, then Blade would have no problems in knocking him down despite his restrained wrists and ankles. But he was in no condition of disarming or effectively killing the mercenary…

Blue, using both rifle and prisoner to support himself as he crossed Zaton in the middle of the night, began to question is life choices. Like that mission, he shouldn't have accepted it; if he had refused, Hammer would have refused as well, and he would still be alive, and they would be doing something normal people do at night, which is to sleep, and Blue's ankle wouldn't be a constant source of pain and he wouldn't be stuck with a Monolithian and a rookie and-:

"There, we say goodbye here!" Blue exclaimed as the Skadovsk appeared in the horizon. He looked at the rookie, who had been sleepily dragging his feet next to him. "See that ship over there? That's where you're going, and you'll keep your mouth shut about this."

"I-I can't see a thing, sir…" Nikolai whined, tired and cold and hungry and scared.

Blue sighed; of course the rookie couldn't see a thing, he didn't have night-vision goggles. Too bad, by no means he would personally escort the rookie to the front door of the ship; he had already done too much for the rookie:

"He… no… see… he… die…" Blade exclaimed, alarmed, and maybe a little too loud. Blue cursed and let go of him, and the Monolithian, in his awkward position of being half-dragged, half-used as a crutch, fell to the ground. Forgotten about his injured ankle and the rookie, Blue knelt down next to the Monolithian and covered his mouth with a gloved hand.

For a tense minute, he expected to hear someone coming at them. But there was only the sound of crickets:

"Sir, I can't see, I don't want to die…" Nikolai whined again, because Blade had a point; if he couldn't see where he was going, he would certainly die by tripping and falling and knocking his head or by running into bandits again or-

A howl cut through the silence, chilling Nikolai to the marrow, and he let out a strangled sob; if there was a wild animal around, he didn't want to run into it while trying to reach whatever ship the man in the dark blue uniform claimed to be there! Without thinking on the consequences, he fell to his knees and clutched to Blue's arm, desperate:

"Sir, please, I don't want to die, I don't want to die!" he cried, and no matter how vigorously Blue shook his arm, Nikolai would not let go.

Yet whatever had howled… wasn't far from them.

* * *

The underground caves near the Burnt Farmstead sure seemed like a bright place to spend the rest of the night. Blue, with an arm wrapped around Nikolai's shoulders and holding his rifle, and using his other arm to literally drag Blade along, forced the exhausted rookie to halt:

"If we go further, we'll find anomalies," Blue grumbled and let go of Blade, who fell completely to the ground:

"Anomalies?" Nikolai repeated, curious, as he helped Blue to sit down:

"Yeah, anomalies, stuff that kills you. Now let me be and go to sleep," the mercenary grunted through gritted teeth; to the heck with it, he was going to take a painkiller and, since his back was leaning against the rock wall of the cave, hopefully he would seem vigilant when in fact he would be dozing off and feeling sluggish.

Nikolai widened his eyes and tried to see the end of the tunnel leading further into the cave, but it was too dark to see anything. He moved to lie down between the mercenary and the Monolithian and curled up, using his backpack as a pillow:

"Thank you, sir. It has been very kind of you-" the rookie said, but Blue shrugged it off as he swallowed down a painkiller:

"You're going to Skadovsk tomorrow, or I swear to god I'll kill you," Blue grunted.

Blade didn't like the sound of that. Blade, whose trousers would be threadbare at the knees were not the kneepads.

The rookie couldn't leave! He still had to make an ally out of him and take him to Pripyat to turn him into a proper soldier! He needed more time to talk to Nikolai, promise him money again and convince him to kill the mercenary.

Blade yawned, tired, but he forced himself to stay awaken. He needed to figure out an opportunity to speech again.

The Monolith was great and glorious and, little later, Blade noticed how Blue's shoulders slouched a bit and his head lolled forwards. He had fallen asleep! Not wasting a second, Blade dragged himself closer to Nikolai and approached his head to the rookie's:

"You…" he called, and Nikolai woke with a startle and a little whimper.

He did not expect Blade to be this close, the man must have dragged himself there. That meant the man in the dark blue uniform wasn't watching them. Just to be sure, Nikolai glanced over his shoulder and frowned, because the man was sitting and still had his gas mask on… but he also looked relaxed, so he had probably fallen asleep.

Nikolai looked at Blade again, at his bony and scarred face, and noticed his blind eye. He frowned a little and wondered how Blade had gotten the injury, but the next moment Blade's green eye, so vivid, caught his attention:

"You… kill… we… escape… I… you… money…" Blade hissed, widening his green eye. Only the green eye, Nikolai watched in wonder, because the blind eye just stared at him, dead, peeking between unmoving eyelids.

Nikolai didn't respond, and Blade raised the eyebrow of his good eye. Nikolai was looking at him attentively and the Monolithian concluded the poor child had never seen a veteran before. Which was excellent; Blade was aware he was an impressive sight, with that big scar on his face, and he could use the story behind it to fully get Nikolai on his good side:

"Grenade… shrapnel… Many… year… ago…" he told softly, and Nikolai frowned:

"How?"

"Defend… Monolith… He… happy… He… I… see…" Blade grinned, barely managing to widen his blind eye. "I… blessed… I… see…" Of course, Nikolai didn't need to know the blessing was gone – temporarily, Blade hoped - .

Nikolai's own light-brown eyes widened in surprise and wonder, and Blade proceeded:

"You… help… you blessed… Monolith… money…" he explained patiently.

The rookie just stared at the man before him. He had heard stories of an entity in the centre of the Zone that made miracles and granted wishes. Could it be this Monolith thing Blade was talking about? And could Blade really see from his blind eye?

Slowly, Nikolai lowered the bandana covering the lower-half of his face and Blade frowned; Nikolai was young, too young. Younger than all of Blade's younger brothers:

"I… I need money…" Nikolai told again, shyly. "That Monolith that made you see again… do you think it will give me money?"

"He…" Blade corrected, then nodded. "You… kill… bad… man… We… escape… You… serve… Monolith… He… reward… you… money…"

It was confusing, but for the time being sounded like Blade had the solution for Nikolai's problem. The rookie bit his lower lip, uneasy; he had never killed someone before and he didn't want to be a murderer… but he really needed the money. He looked around nervously:

"How… how do I…?" he asked in a whisper, then looked at the man in the dark blue uniform. Still unmoving, relaxed, definitely asleep:

"You… fix… ankle… you… break… neck…" Blade commanded. But Nikolai shook his head vehemently, feeling sick just by imagining himself breaking someone's neck:

"I can't do that!" he protested. "We… we could run… I could drag you, I practically dragged you and that guy all the way here, I-"

"Kill…" Blade narrowed his green eye. "He… mer-ce-na-ry… He… kill… you… You… kill… we… escape… Monolith… you… money…"

Nikolai glanced over his shoulder again; that man was a mercenary? But he had been so kind…! Nikolai had always thought mercenaries were simply bad people, who did everything for money. It didn't seem fair to kill the man who had helped him so far. On the other hand, if the man was a mercenary and Blade was his prisoner, so he was in a mission, and that could mean trouble for Nikolai; he didn't want to be made a prisoner as well, or be killed because he was a witness… even though the man in the dark blue uniform didn't look like he wanted to kill Nikolai:

"Kill… We… escape… you… money…" Blade hissed again, with what he thought was urgency. But for Nikolai it was monotone and jerky, yet strangely hypnotizing. Figuring Blade, older and clearly more experienced in that way of living, obviously knew better than him, Nikolai opted to do as the Monolithian told him to.

Slowly and nervously, Nikolai scrambled to his feet. He realised his body felt heavy and sore from having to drag both mercenary and Monolithian, plus he was hungry and hadn't gotten any decent sleep. He wasn't used to this. So, the sooner he finished it, the better.

With silent steps, Nikolai made his way to the sleeping mercenary. He just had to break the man's neck. He had the theoretical knowledge of how to do it… hopefully, it would work. Hopefully, the mercenary wouldn't have the time to kill _him_ instead. Holding his breath, Nikolai found himself just one step away from the mercenary. He could feel Blade watching, and the man's empty voice replied over and over in his mind the order to kill the mercenary. He would be rewarded, then. He would be given money and he would be able to go back home, save his family. He knew he wouldn't have to tell anyone where the money came from… or about the man he had to kill to get it.

Inhaling slowly and shakily, the rookie knelt in front of the mercenary, looking into the lenses of his gas mask. One was cracked. Because of the poor light, Nikolai couldn't see the mercenary's eyes, and he was actually glad for it. Holding his breath again, he raised his hands to the man's neck.

He then heard steps coming from the tunnel and looked away from the mercenary to the source of the sound. It was a man in a white tank-top and jeans, coming out of the dark tunnel. Nikolai widened in eyes in surprise and was at a loss of what to do, and then there was a high-pitched ringing in his ears, so sudden and painful, and the whole world began to spin and darken and redden, and Nikolai screamed in pain and horror as he somehow zoomed in the face of the man in the tunnel; whatever it was, it wasn't human.

He closed his eyes and kept screaming as everything began to spin and the ringing in his ears intensified, until it was simply an ear-splitting sound. He thought he heard voices and the sound of gunfire, and the world was still spinning and his ears hurt so much it felt like his head was about to explode and-

It all stopped suddenly. He felt cold, even though there was sweat running down his face and soaking his clothes. Everything was silent and his ears didn't hurt anymore, his head wasn't about to explode:

"Kid? Kid, can you hear me?"

It was the mercenary. Nikolai looked up – seemed he had fallen to the ground – to find the man kneeling next to him, bent over him. The lenses of his gas mask, dark and dirty and one of them cracked, showed no emotion. But his voice, though muffled, seemed concerned. "Kid?"

Nikolai whimpered something and tried to move away, but the mercenary placed a hand on his shoulder:

"It was a controller. I know it sucks when they attack, but thanks to you I woke up and killed the bastard… hell, I don't even want to image what could have happened if that bastard had managed to sneak closer to us!"

The rookie just blinked his eyes, shocked. He had no idea of what the mercenary was talking about, but apparently, the man was thanking him for having screamed like that. Nikolai cast a nervous glance at Blade, who simply glowered back at him.

Nikolai whimpered; having the mercenary threatening him and yelling at him was enough, he didn't need the other man to do that to him as well…:

"Kid? Say something, are you good?" the mercenary asked again, frowning when Nikolai didn't look back at him and kept staring at the Monolithian. The mercenary, despite his terrific performance so far, wasn't stupid; the Monolithian had indeed sold his Monolithian bullshit to the rookie, who had bought it all… the Monolithian had somehow convinced the rookie to attack Blue, there was no other explanation as to how the rookie could have seen the controller coming and be targeted.

The mercenary thanked mentally the dead controller in the tunnel; the rookie wouldn't have managed to make much damage, but Blue didn't want to have to kill the rookie. Especially now, that the poor thing had completely uncovered his face; Nikolai was just too young to be in such a place. And the crazy Monolithian guy had taken advantage of Nikolai, which meant the Monolithian was cunning and cruel, rather than simply an empty brainwashed shell.

The Monolithian was dangerous, Blue realised with dread, and the mercenary, with his injured ankle, knew all too well he would have to be cleverer if he wanted to complete the mission.

Getting on Nikolai's good side seemed the perfect solution.

Blue sighed and shook the rookie by the shoulder, until he finally looked back at him:

"Is this the first mutant you see?" he asked patiently and, after a little hesitation, Nikolai nodded. Blue nodded as well and pulled Nikolai to a sitting position. "Do you want to eat something?"

The rookie shook his head, then hesitated again, then finally nodded. He intended to stand up and get his own backpack, where he had some food left, but the mercenary scrambled to his feet, wrapped an arm around Nikolai's shoulders and guided him to where he had been sitting, away from the Monolithian:

"What's your name, kid?" Blue asked casually, sitting down with difficulty and practically forcing Nikolai to go down with him. He reached out for his backpack and rummaged through it, looking for something to eat. He handed Nikolai an intact can and his own foldable fork. "It's sticky, I had an accident with energy drink cans…"

The rookie forced a smile, at a loss of what to do. He could feel Blade's increasing glower on his back, he was still in shock from the controller's attack and he knew the mercenary knew about his intentions, so the man's niceness terrified him. He opened the can and poked its content with the fork:

"Nikolai…" he finally grumbled and began to eat.

Blue nodded:

"How old are you?"

Nikolai hesitated, then kept eating, looking down:

"Old enough…"

"Fifteen? Sixteen?" The mercenary tilted his head. "What brought you to the Zone?"

From his corner, Blade watched with increasing wrath as, once more, his glorious plan to get rid of his captor failed miserably. On top of that, seemed the mercenary was now interested on his ally, and Blade **could not let that happen**. He couldn't understand what had he done wrong, so that the Monolith was toying with him like that, but whatever he had done, he would redeem himself, prove the Monolith he was worth serving Him and return triumphant and with a recruit!

He narrowed his green eye:

"Bad… man… No… trust…" he warned Nikolai, his dull voice echoing in the cave with surprising strength and clarity.

Both mercenary and rookie looked at Blade. Blue frowned under his gas mask; so, the guy wanted a duel? Very well, if Blue wasn't in the best conditions to fight, he would speak:

"Don't listen to him, kid," he said, capturing Nikolai's attention again. "He's insane. This thing he calls Monolith fucked him up."

"Blasphemy…" Blade yelled, outraged, and began to drag himself closer. How dared the mercenary insult the Monolith and Blade in the same sentence, one the bringer of Truth and the other His most loyal servant?

"The way he talks? Yeah, his Monolith, whatever that is, did that to him," the mercenary proceeded, now that he had Nikolai's full attention. "A toddler is more coherent than him. You don't want to be like that, do you?"

"I… speak…" Blade defended himself, his face red as a pepper. He finally reached the mercenary and the rookie, after having snaked with incredible speed for someone restrained and deprived of sleep and food. "I… speak…"

"See, he makes no sense!" Blue teased. Nikolai looked at Blade with wide eyes. "Do you want to be like that? Do you want to forget who you are?"

"Forget who I am?" Nikolai repeated, frowning. Blade shook his head vehemently:

"I… know… I… am… I… warrior… Monolith… He… bad… man… he… kill… you… no… listen…"

"He's been using you just to get rid of me. He told you he'll take you to that Monolith of his, didn't he? What did he promise you?" Blue laughed, sadly, because Nikolai's mortified expression had just confirmed his theory. He pitied the rookie, and thought that maybe he should have left him with the bandits; he would be dead by now, at peace:

"Blasphemy… Blasphemy… Monolith… reward…" Blade roared, because his plan was brilliant and a simpleton like the mercenary couldn't have possibly discovered it. Damned controller, why had it appeared? Why had the Monolith sent it? What did the Monolith want from him? Blade shook his head; his priority was keeping Nikolai on his side. "Bad… man… not… save… you… I… said… help… I… save…"

Blue opened his mouth to reply… but heck, the Monolithian had a point. **He** was the one responsible for Nikolai being there.

Nikolai had a mighty headache. He wanted to jump to his feet and run, because now he wasn't sure of anything. Something about Blade was off, yes, but the man didn't seem dangerous and bad like the mercenary was painting him… but the mercenary didn't seem dangerous and bad like Blade had said. Nikolai needed money; if Blade could give him that, so he would stick with Blade no matter the consequences, that so far appeared to be a weird form of speech.

Blue took the chance that Nikolai was considering everything that had been said and, with speed he didn't know he had, stuffed one of his tactical gloves into the Monolithian's mouth. The green-eyed man widened his eye and rambled something that came out muffled:

"What did he promise you, Nikolai? What do you need?" Blue asked, clamping his hand over Blade's mouth to stop him from spitting the glove.

Nicolai looked from one man to the other, terrified, and cast an apologetic look to Blade, wriggling wildly to get away from Blue's hand:

"I… I need money…" the rookie whispered.

Blue sighed, relieved; money. Easy. Not some stupid crusade like healing a relative from cancer:

"I can get you money and escort you safely out of this place," he promised. "If you help me take this crazy guy to the Yanov Station, we'll split the money. You have my word."

Blade widened ever more his green eye and shook his head with renewed vigour. Nikolai could not accept that! It was a trick, a low and dishonest trick! He managed to get away from the mercenary and spat the tactical glove:

"He… mer-ce-na-ry… he… no… good…!" Blade rushed, using the most logical of arguments.

Nikolai whimpered and hid his face on his hands; what was he going to do? If he refused, the mercenary would probably kill him! If he accepted, Blade wouldn't be pleased and wouldn't help him if the mercenary turned out to be a bad choice! But he needed the money! But he didn't want to kill or sell a prisoner! He wanted _honest_ money!

"Monolith...-" Blade said before Blue shoved the tactical glove into his mouth again:

"Look, kid, we-"

"I want to leave, I want to sell artifacts, I don't want to do this!" Nikolai cried, convinced he had finally taken a good decision.

The fuss between the two men stopped and both looked at the rookie. Silence, and the mercenary's shoulders slumped, disappointedly, and Blade shook his head in disbelief:

"So be it, kid. I'll leave you near Skadovsk, and from then on you'll be by yourself," the mercenary declared. Nikolai nodded, sheepishly, and couldn't bring himself to look into the mercenary's gas mask lenses or Blade's green eye.

* * *

 **Weeeeee, review?**


	4. Chapter 4

The Zone was always cold at dawn, even if the pink and orange in the sky promised a warm day.

Blade, once more half-dragged, half-used as a crutch, realised he was hungry, and thirsty, and sore, and tired; which meant he was feeling nauseous, and a bit dizzy… and way too weak. Thinking about escaping had kept him busy so far but, for the time being, he felt as any other normal human would feel under the circumstances. That bothered him, because he was no _mere_ human – he was a warrior of the Monolith, a super-soldier - and he would be damned if his plans to escape his captor failed because of such basic things – hunger, thirst, pain and fatigue.

Blue regretted having taking the painkiller and all he wanted was to sit down and sleep, sleep that sluggishness off and have a little time to properly mourn his friend, who had been gone – forever – for a day. Hammer, wherever he was now, was surely having the time of his life watching Blue's misfortune…

Nikolai could see the ship now, and a pack of dogs coming at them. The rookie said nothing about the dogs; the mercenary surely had seen them as well, and dogs were friendly beings, they were probably just lost, or messing around in a big pack. However, the mercenary hadn't seen the dogs, too busy with trying to walk and carry his small but rather heavy prisoner along.

They stopped and, slowly, Blue signalled with his head the ship in the swamp below the hill where they stood:

"Careful when you go through the swamps, there are mutants," Blue warned. Nikolai nodded, his face partially covered by the black bandana again. And he was going to thank the mercenary, who had been so kind, but the approaching pack of dogs surrounded them in a frenzy of barking and growling and one of them – the bigger and furrier – jumped at Blade, and the impact made the Monolithian loose his balance and fall, consequently making Blue loose his balance and fall as well.

Blue screamed in pain as he accidentally put weight on his ankle and cursed at the top of his lungs when he found himself partially sandwiched between Blade and the ground. The Monolithian went berserk, trying to shake off the pseudodog clawing at him and trying to bite his neck, elbowing and pinning Blue to the ground in the process.

Nikolai looked around in mute horror, as the several dogs ran in circles around them, barking and growling and trying to bite. He wanted to run, but he had always been told to never run in the presence of dogs. He whined and covered his ears with his hands when Blue finally managed to take aim and began to shoot, and Nikolai fell to his knees, squeezing his eyes shut, as the dogs let out piercing howls of pain and ran away.

A last shot, and the big pseudodog that had attacked Blade fell dead.

For a moment, the three of them didn't move: Nikolai, on his knees, trying to erase the dogs' pained sounds from his memory; Blue, breathing with difficulty and clutching to his rifle for the sake of his life; Blade, babbling a thankful prayer to the Monolith for having escaped with life.

Blue was the first to break the silence, whining shits and fucks and dragging himself from under Blade's dead weight. His whining became real cursing when he saw that the Monolithian, the prisoner he was supposed to deliver alive, appeared to be badly injured.

Nikolai finally opened his eyes and looked at Blade. He felt slightly nauseous, but sadly he had already seen things like that, and even worse than that. His own brothers, for example, when they had shielded him from-

The rookie shook his head, pushing the memories to the back of his mind. He blinked away stubborn tears and, slowly, scrambled to his feet:

"I can fix him…" he volunteered in a weak voice. He knew how to fix that. A bit too late, he hadn't known how to when his brothers- But now he knew, and the least he could do for Blade, who had tried to help him, was fixing him; and the least he could do for the mercenary, who had been keeping him alive, was fixing his delivery.

* * *

Going back to the underground caves near the Burnt Farmstead was problematic and took a lot more time than what Blue had thought, time that could have cost Blade's life, as the Monolithian appeared to be losing too much blood. Throwing caution to the wind, Blue cut the ropes restraining Blade's wrists and, with his arms thrown loosely around Blue's and Nikolai's necks, Blade was once more dragged all the way back, still babbling thankful prayers. Blue tried to hop on his good leg, but in the end Nikolai had to drag both men again, his knees almost giving out under the excessive weight.

Back into the cave, the rookie and the mercenary lied down Blade as comfortably as possible, and Blue allowed himself to fall flat on his backside and whimper lowly about his bad luck. He gave Nikolai his best medkits and stood there, sitting with his back against the rock wall of the cave, watching as Nikolai tended to Blade.

Nikolai unbuttoned Blade's jacket, pulled it open and tore the black sweater he wore under it. He then proceeded to wash the blood away and clean the wounds, and fortunately it wasn't as bad as it seemed; Blade's upper chest and shoulders were covered in gashes and bites, but it could be easily stitched and, as long as the Monolithian didn't move much, stitching would be enough:

"Oh… Monolith… thank…" Blade slurred once more, wincing when Nikolai began to stitch his wounds. His green eye was wide open, looking at something only he could see, and even his blind eye seemed somehow alive and alert.

Blue, who was slowly recovering from the secondary effects of the painkiller, snorted and shook his masked head:

"It's not your Monolith who's fixing you, crazy fuck…"

That made Blade frown and move his green eye to look at Nikolai. And his frown grew bigger, and the Monolithian felt confused; the rookie had nothing to do with him and had made clear he didn't want to serve the Monolith. So, why help **him** , a warrior of the Monolith, why tend to his wounds like they were brothers?

But of course…!

It was all the Monolith's doing! Nikolai was fated to be Blade's brother and, before Nikolai's initial refusal, the Monolith had acted, bringing the two together. That was it! The Monolith was great and wise, providing Blade not only with help to escape… but also with a little brother, a comrade for life.

Blade's fingers curled around Nikolai's arm in a vicious grip, startling both rookie and mercenary, who immediately aimed his rifle at the Monolithian's head:

"Thank… You… brother… You… good… man… You… brother…" Blade declared solemnly and stretched his lips in a genuine smile that reached his eyes. Fraternal instinct triggered, Blade mentally swore to the Monolith that he would take good care of his most recent little brother and would take him home, so that he could meet his other brothers and join them in their mission to protect the Monolith:

"Kid's not you brother, let go of him," Blue commanded, and something told him that it should have been him fixing the Monolithian instead. Maybe because the rookie had almost been successfully influenced by the crazy green-eyed man once, and, by the way Nikolai was staring at the Monolithian, it was very likely that he would be willing to believe all that nonsense again. "Kid?"

Nikolai had had two older brothers. They had pranked and annoyed him in a regular basis, and had drove him to angry tears many times. But they had been his brothers, and he had loved them and he knew they had loved him too. Nikolai had lost his brothers months ago – he couldn't tell exactly how long, time had started to blur together when he had arrived to the Zone – because they had chosen to willingly give their lives, if needed, to protect him. And at the time, Nikolai hadn't known how to stop bleedings and stitch wounds. All he knew was how to fix sprains and put dislocated bones back to place.

He stared down at the Monolithian, smiling kindly at him and holding his arm with too much strength. The scars on the right side of his face seemed gruesomely unaffected by his smile, like whatever lesion had affected the right eyebrow's mobility had also affected practically the entire right half of his face. He didn't know that man and something was very wrong with him. Maybe the mercenary was right, maybe Blade was dangerous. But the man's face, scarred and aging, was the only genuine, human face Nikolai had seen since his arrival to the Zone – not just the upper half of a face partially hidden by a bandana, not the threat of a balaclava, not the inhumanness of a gas mask. For reasons Nikolai didn't know, Blade had deemed him his brother. And for lack of having someone close, someone who would interact with him not with the intend to kill him or rob him or yell at him, Nikolai didn't question it.

"Hey hey hey, no more Monolithian bullshit!" The mercenary's voice snapped Nikolai out of his thoughts and the rookie looked at the man in the dark blue uniform, who was ungracefully scrambling to his feet with the intend of approaching Nikolai and pull him away from Blade:

"I'm stitching him!" And the rookie hurried to go back to work, and Blade let go of his arm realising, with interest, that his hands weren't restrained anymore:

"Hurry up! You're finishing that and you're going to Skadovsk!" Blue grumbled and considered blindfolding Blade. Tie his wrists again, and blindfold him, and definitely gag him. That Monolithian was a menace.

Rookie and Monolithian looked up at him with wide, shocked eyes:

"But sir…! I… I need to make sure that-"

"I can do that, you don't need to worry about the crazy dude. I thought you were in a bit of a hurry to get your money…? So, the faster you leave, the faster you get to Skadovsk and get a job."

Blade opened his mouth to speak, outraged, but noticed Nikolai was frowning, looking like he was thinking, and decided not to say a word. He would trust his little brother.

The rookie looked down at Blade and continued to stitch his wounds closed:

"That Skadovsk place doesn't seem safe… I'll go with you to the Yanov Station," he offered, and, behind his gas mask, Blue narrowed his eyes; a rookie, bargaining with him!:

"And who told you I want you around?" he asked. Nikolai didn't look at him:

"You can't move that well… and now Bl-" The rookie stopped himself in time, realising that maybe the mercenary shouldn't know he knew the prisoner's name. "-he can't move that well too… You'll need someone to help."

Blue, sighing tiredly, knew Nikolai was right. By no means he, injured, would be able to take Blade, injured as well, to the Yanov Station. He could call one of his comrades, but he didn't want someone else taking the profit of his hard work – and Hammer's sacrifice. No, the rookie would have to do. And he would have to make sure he was on Nikolai's good side, because if the Monolithian had talked the poor kid into attacking him before, so it would probably happen again.

Just as Blue was about to produce a gag out of Blade's own torn sweater, his and Nikolai's PDAs began to beep, softly. Blue sighed tiredly and Nikolai looked up at him with wide eyes:

"What is this?" he asked, and the mercenary checked his PDA only to sigh again; there were enemies nearby, approaching the underground caves. Going further into the cave, with anomalies and probably mutants, wasn't an option in his – and the Monolithian's – current condition:

"Stay right here. And be quiet," Blue ordered, limping to his backpack and reloading his rifle. With a pained hiss, he put the heavy loaded backpack on his back and limped away, to the entry of the cave, where he lied flat on his stomach on the ground behind a rock.

Nikolai looked around, nervously, then continued to stitch Blade's wounds:

"When he falls asleep again…" Nikolai whispered, and the Monolithian tilted his head. "… I'll help you out of this place, ok?"

"You… Monolith…" Blade asked. The rookie smiled nervously and pulled the green-eyed man to a sitting position, so that he could bandage him:

"Yeah, I'll go with you," Nikolai assured; Blade could get him money, and surely defending the Monolith – whatever that was – was more honest than mercenary work… and there was just something about the green-eyed man that made Nikolai want to follow him:

"He… reward… you… brother…"

A shot was heard, followed by muffled screams outside the caves. Nikolai, startled, dropped the bandages and turned around to look at the mercenary, who shot at someone outside one more time. A bullet hit the rock covering him, close to his head, and Blade grimaced; hopefully the mercenary would finish whoever was attacking, because if he was finished first, Blade wouldn't have the time to reach his corpse and the sniper rifle before the attacking party reached his position.

His stomach voiced a protest, loud enough that Nikolai heard it over the gunshots:

"I'll give you something to eat," the rookie said, immediately looking at the green-eyed man again and reaching out for his backpack. He didn't have much food left, but he had eaten just hours ago, and Blade hadn't. The mercenary wouldn't be pleased if he knew Nikolai had given food to his prisoner…

Hurriedly, the rookie handed Blade a loaf of bread and half of a sausage. Blade's hands, restrained for so long, were a bit clumsy at holding the food and taking it to his mouth, but in a matter of seconds the loaf of bread and the sausage were gone. Blade couldn't remember the last time he had been that hungry.

And, just as the gunshots stopped and the mercenary scrambled to his feet, Nikolai had just given Blade a can of energy drink. With three big gulps the can was emptied, the rookie hid the evidence in his backpack again and kept bandaging Blade like nothing had happened:

"Bandits…" the mercenary explained, limping towards the rookie and the Monolithian and stopping behind Nikolai. "Once you finish that, go outside and look for food in their backpacks."

"But sir, they're dead!" Nikolai exclaimed, shocked, and Blue rolled his eyes:

"Kid, such is life in the Zone. Hurry up before the dogs get there."

Nikolai finished wrapping bandages around Blade's upper chest and shoulders, jumped to his feet and ran outside:

"And you can only bring **food** , Nikolai," Blue warned, raising his voice. He looked at his prisoner, making sure there was no more damage on him… and were those bread crumbs on the Monolithian's trousers, or simply Blue's dirty (and cracked) lenses? Blue rubbed his gloved hands on his lenses; no, those were bread crumbs on the Monolithian's trousers.

Nikolai came back running, carrying more bread, a couple of cans and sausages in his arms. He stopped near the mercenary and was promptly slapped on the head:

"I told you not to give him food, didn't I?" Blue yelled, and raised his hand again. Blade, outraged with the mistreatment of his little brother, tried to stand up, flailing his arms as he tried to stand with his ankles restrained and upper chest and shoulders freshly stitched and bandaged:

"Monolith… gave… It… mi-ra-cle… Leave… brother…!" Blade explained and ended up falling on his side:

"Yeah, of course it was your Monolith…" Blue grunted and hit Nikolai's head once more. "I swear to god, you do this again and I kill you!"

Nikolai whimpered; there, the threats were back. Blade had been right all the time. Blade, who was still trying to stand up, and had already successfully risen to his knees.

Blue inspected the rookie, just to be sure he hadn't brought a pistol or a knife, then let him help Blade to lie down again. Using his rifle to support himself, Blue sat on the ground, this time closer to his prisoner and to the rookie, and began to search for another piece of rope inside his backpack.

But seemed he would have to make a rope out of Blade's torn sweater, too…:

"No, give me the sweater first," he told Nikolai, when the rookie was buttoning Blade's jacket again. "That guy isn't staying with his hands free, no way."

"But sir, his wrists are all bruised, you can't tie him again! That's dangerous, you can damage blood circulation and-"

"Sweater. Now," And to make himself clear, Blue pointed his rifle at Nikolai's head. Not the best strategy to stay on the rookie's good side, the mercenary realised with a tired sigh.

Yet the Monolith was great and wise, for he sent a diversion.

Blade hiccupped, loudly and powerfully, and was most distressed:

"What… this…" he asked, widening his eyes, because that had never happened to him. Nikolai chuckled, momently forgotten he had a rifle aimed at his head, and Blue rolled his eyes, summoning patience. Another hiccup, as loud and powerful and the first:

"It's your Monolith's doing, for eating its holy food so fast…"

The Monolithian looked at the mercenary, slightly confused; had the mercenary believed in the miracle story? And his face made Blue himself chuckle and shake his head in disbelief:

"You're fucked up beyond repair…"

"You're bleeding…" Nikolai mumbled. Blade hiccupped once more:

"This… bleeding…" he asked, because he had never bled like that. The mercenary burst out laughing and for moments forgot to keep pointing his rifle at Nikolai's head:

"No, those are hiccups," the rookie explained, amused, but pulled Blade to a sitting position again and began to unwrap the bandages around Blade's upper chest and shoulders. "And you're bleeding again, you shouldn't move."

Outside, the sky darkened and reddened, and the world trembled and roared with unleashed energy. An emission was coming.

* * *

It had been hours. Blade had started to preach and Blue, convinced he had had an epiphany, had given Blade a painkiller; the secondary effects hadn't been as immediate as they were on Blue, but some time later the Monolithian had drifted to sleep. Nikolai had then tended to Blue's ankle, that was absolutely no better than the day before, and Blue had somehow managed to keep himself from taking another painkiller. Shortly after, Nikolai had also fallen asleep, and Blue himself had succumbed to the urge of napping to make up for the lack of sleep.

The mercenary was the first to wake up. His ankle was still hurting (even though he had let Nikolai convince him he would be more comfortable without his boot) and the blowout was still going on. The ground and walls of the cave were occasionally shaken and from the depths of the tunnel came what sounded like muffled howls. Blue thought it couldn't be mutants, or they would have already attacked the group.

Nikolai woke up little later, startled, but relaxed a bit after spotting Blade lying not far from him. He had lowered the bandana and the hood, completely exposing his face and a light blond mess of medium length hair that contributed in nothing for his earlier statement about having enough age to be in the Zone. Seeing the rookie like that, Blue couldn't help but feel his heart tighten; what could have possibly driven such a young and apparently educated boy to that place?

They spent a moment in awkward silence, Nikolai trying to avoid looking at Blue's masked face and the mercenary thinking about something to talk about. When he finally came up with something, he quickly realised it wasn't that brilliant:

"I think we'll have to spend the night here, the blowout is still going on and with me like this and the crazy guy like that, by no means we'll reach the Yanov Station before dark," To which Nikolai simply nodded.

Sometime later, Blade woke up with a grunt. He changed immediately to a sitting position, reaching out for a weapon that wasn't next to him, and the momently confused expression that crossed his face told Blue the Monolithian wasn't used to peaceful sleeping. Then Blade frowned and began to flex his fingers, slowly, looking down at his hands and heavily bruised wrists. And maybe Nikolai was right about restraining the Monolithian's wrists again bringing more harm than good. Blue needed a strategy to safely finish his mission, urgently.

Minutes passed by in silence. Outside, the blowout increased and the world turned blood-red. Nikolai cleared his throat and looked at the mercenary:

"So… what's your name?" he asked shyly, clearly giving his best to try to break the deafening silence among them. Such a child-like question, typical of kids trying to make friends. Blade, however, frowned:

"Bad… man… no… trust…" he scolded. The mercenary narrowed his eyes, and turned his masked head to the rookie:

"You can call me Blue," he told Nikolai, after concluding that letting the rookie and the prisoner know his name had zero importance now that his mission had hit the rock bottom of the pit:

"Why are you called like that?" Nikolai asked curiously, and Blade interfered again, because his little brother seemed to have forgotten the mercenary was constantly threatening him and, for that deserved no trust:

"He… bad… man… no… trust…"

"And what's _your_ name, crazy dude?" the mercenary asked in return, annoyed. "What are you hiding from?"

The Monolithian frowned and puffed his chest; he wasn't hiding from anything. Hiding was for the weak, the coward, and he was strong and brave. In fact, his name spoke of his finest quality, unlike the mercenary's, that was just some colour-nonsense:

"I… Blade… I… fight… Brothers… call… Blade…" he explained, a hint of pride among his monotonous speech. Blue snorted; that explained the ridiculous number of knives he had found on the Monolithian:

"But… why not using your real names?" Nikolai pulled his knees to his chest, looking from the Monolithian to the mercenary and making a mental note to ask Blade about his brothers once they managed to escape the mercenary, finding the fact that Blade also had siblings strangely comforting:

"Kid, one thing I learned is that when you come here, most times you've got something to hide and want a fresh start," Blue shrugged, nonchalantly, but Blade frowned and shook his head:

"I… Blade… That… name… No… hide…" he insisted. He had always been called that by his brothers. There couldn't possibly be another name for him:

"But the name your parents called you? Your _real_ name?" Nikolai scratched his light-blond head. "Before… before you came here. Is it dangerous to use it?"

And the Monolithian simply blinked his eyes, confused… because he had _always_ been there. Since he remembered. There was nothing before that. Blade had always served the Monolith, because the Monolith was life, and without Him there was no life; there could not have been a _before_ the Monolith. He shook his head, slowly:

"I… Blade…"

"I told you he's fucked up, kid…" Blue mumbled, disturbed because the lore about Monolithians was indeed true. But at the same time, he pitied the green-eyed man. "Stalkers say these guys spend so much time under the influence of that Monolith of them that… they forget who they are."

"I… Blade…!... I… defend… Monolith…!"

"Do you want to forget who you are? Why you came here?" Blue asked, taking advantage of the situation to do his own preaching. Sadly, the mercenary was unaware of Blade's rhetoric skills, and had absolutely no idea of how charismatic he was:

"Nikolai… need… money… He… good… man… He… brother… Monolith… reward… Good… soul… Reward…" Blade declared, using the booming voice he used to address the troops. It was still flat and jerky, and Nikolai still found it strangely hypnotizing. "You… bad… man… Mercenary… In-ho-nest…"

"You can't even talk! Nnd the word is «dishonest», and I'm not dishonest!"

The two men began to argue, Blade's emotionless loud voice and Blue's passionate rant echoing through the caves. Outside the world trembled and lightening tore the skies, filling the caves with white light for brief moments. Nikolai watched mercenary and Monolithian argue, confused; he couldn't understand what was wrong at all with Blade – except for his speech – because the man clearly remembered he had a past fighting for the Monolith, and siblings, and he seemed able to reason very well despite the way he talked. Maybe his actual name really was Blade, maybe it was like those Germanic names like Schumacher, that historically meant the family's profession was to be shoemakers. Blade seemed to be pretty sure about who he was and what he was supposed to be. He had certainly been in that place for a long, long time, defending the Monolith.

Nikolai studied both men; by then Blue was gesticulating madly, clearly annoyed, and Blade had sat straight and had crossed his arms in front of his chest, and if he was annoyed he didn't give it out. Blade's face was oddly blank, as he stated fact after fact, his green eye fixed on Blue and his blind eye peeking from unmoving eyelids, his left eyebrow raising slightly at times and the right one standing rigidly in the same spot. Blue's face remained hidden behind the gas mask, but occasionally the lenses would flash, having caught a lost beam of light coming from the blowout outside.

The loudest of thunders roared and, as sudden as it began, the blowout stopped.

Both Monolithian and mercenary stopped arguing and looked outside. Blue estimated it should be around five p.m.; no way they would reach Yanov Station before dark. That reminded him of something he was extremely curious to know about Nikolai, and looked back at the rookie:

"Where did you learn to fix sprained ankles and stitch wounds?" he asked, and Nikolai became visibly uncomfortable:

"I already told you, my father was a physiotherapist…" the rookie replied:

"But that doesn't mean you should learn how to fix ankles."

"It came in handy," Nikolai shrugged. "I was in dance school."

Blade had no idea of what Nikolai and the mercenary were talking about, but he knew his little brother was indeed too talkative for his own good:

"Bad… man… no… trust…" he reminded Nikolai:

"What kind of dancing?" Blue asked, both interested and just for the sake of annoying the Monolithian. Nikolai smirked:

"Folk dance."

"What… dance…" Blade asked, confused; he had never heard of «dancing». What was that? Was it some kind of fighting style? Could Nikolai already fight? If so, then the Monolith had given him the best of little brothers, one who was already trained in the art of fighting and healing:

"Uh… folk dance…? Traditional dance. You know… like… Hopak?"

But the Monolithian just stared at Nikolai, confused, and the rookie thought that maybe Blade wasn't Ukrainian, but he didn't have an accent, so maybe he was Ukrainian but had been born in some other country and wasn't familiar with Ukrainian culture…?

"Blade, where do you come from?" the rookie asked:

"North…" Blade replied promptly, and that made Blue laugh full-heartedly:

"I brought him from Pripyat, that's the North he's referring to…" the mercenary explained, and laughed harder before Nikolai's dumbfound face:

"North…" Blade insisted, frowning. The mercenary appeared to be making fun of him… "Bad… man… where… from…"

The rookie looked at Blue, whose laughter died instantly:

"No way," he grunted:

"But-" Nikolai tried, yet Blue just shook his masked head:

"Bad… man… no… trust…" Blade nodded, because the mercenary's refusal to reveal where he came from was just another indicator of how he could not be trusted. Blue ignored him and crossed his arms:

"And stitching wounds, Nikolai? Physiotherapists don't stitch wounds," the mercenary asked again:

"No… answer… Bad… man… no… trust… Bad… man… no… say… where… from… No… answer…" Blade commanded, and Nikolai had to admit Blade was right; why should he be telling more things about him, if Blue didn't want to share? Even though he also understood Blue's reasons; he was a mercenary, people shouldn't know his name and where he came from for security reasons…

Still, Nikolai opted to follow Blade's advice and didn't say a word. And Blue decided not to press.

* * *

The day went on. The blowout was replaced by a regular storm, with wind and rain. The caves grew humid and colder and Blade's lower back, joints, nose and jaws became a source of pain – weak, for the time being, but pain nonetheless. He had never felt like this at home, with his brothers, serving the Monolith, and if a mere humid and cold cave made him feel pain, Blade didn't even want to imagine how it would be like to be in Pripyat in the Winter, with snow, without the aid of the Monolith.

The Monolithian looked around; Blue had put on his boot again and Nikolai was shivering with cold. Forgotten about the stitches in his upper chest and shoulders and apparently undisturbed by his still restrained ankles, Blade rolled sideways towards Nikolai, startling both rookie and Mercenary, who hurriedly aimed his rifle at Nikolai:

"Brother… cold…" Blade stated when he bumped on Nikolai and changed to a sitting position in a very fluid motion, then wrapped an arm around Nikolai's shoulders. "I… no… let… cold…"

"You're going back to your corner **now** , crazy guy!" Blue ordered, aiming at Nikolai's head; what a way to get on the rookie's good side…

Blue frowned and shook his head:

"Brother… cold…" he repeated:

"I'm cold," Nikolai confirmed, and he couldn't understand why Blue preferred to let him freeze now that he would _supposedly_ help him to take the Monolithian to Yanov Station:

"Kid's not your brother!" Blue grunted and scrambled to his feet. Very well, time for plan B, that he had thought about after their little chat was over. He limped closer to the rookie, still aiming at Nikolai. "Lie down, on your back. The two of you."

Blade pulled the rookie closer. With a sigh, Blue shook his head:

"Sorry, kid…" he said, and pressed the trigger. Nikolai screamed in surprise and pain when the bullet scratched his arm and hit the rock wall behind him. Blade roared, outraged, and took impulse to stand up. And he actually managed to go from sitting to squatting, but Blue was aiming at Nikolai again. "I'm hitting his head, next…"

Nikolai whimpered, pressing a hand over the scratch that wasn't even bleeding that much.

Cursing, Blade lied on his back; he could only hope that, this way, the mercenary wouldn't shoot his little brother. Still whimpering and still pressing a hand over his insignificant scratch, Nikolai lied on his back as well, shoulder-to-shoulder with Blade.

Under his gas mask, Blue raised an eyebrow; so, it worked. For some reason – that could be no good – the Monolithian had decided to side with the rookie. Therefore, to control Blade, all Blue had to do was controlling Nikolai. By no means he would get on the rookie's good side, but apparently he had just found out how to finish his mission with minimum success.

With difficulty, Blue knelt next to Nikolai and removed a grenade from his belt:

"I pulled out the safety pin," Blue explained. A pretty lie, of course, and he just hoped Blade's area of expertise was merely knives, and not explosives too. He then placed the perfectly intact – and harmless – grenade under Nikolai's lower back, who tried to wriggle away. "Don't! As soon as I let go, if your weight isn't there pressing the lever down… the grenade goes off."

And Nikolai went immediately still, sobbing:

"Bad… man… Monolith… punish…" Blade cursed, but remained still as well, fearing he might accidentally make the rookie shift his weight on the grenade and cause it to detonate.

With a pained sigh, Blue stood up again, limped to Blade and knelt next to him, repeating the same process with the grenade and still pretending to have removed the safety pin:

"Now the two of you'll stay there, very quiet, and won't bother me until tomorrow," he grumbled.

Blade stared daggers at Blue. If not for Nikolai, who he had sworn to protect and who he had to take to the Monolith so that he could be rewarded, Blade wouldn't even think twice in sacrificing himself to the Monolith, now that the opportunities to escape were rarer and rarer.

Sacrificing himself and, of course, take the damned mercenary with him.

* * *

 **Weeeeee, review?**


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's note:** look, I'm alive, here's an update!

* * *

Carefully, Blue slipped a hand under Nikolai's back and retrieved the grenade. The harmless grenade, but the trick had worked and he was definitely doing it again. He managed to repeat the stunt with Blade, and when the harmless grenade was back to his belt, Blue let out a breath he hadn't known he was holding. Even more carefully, he cut the ropes around Blade's ankles.

He then scrambled to his feet and pulled Nikolai up, startling him. The rookie yelped and panicked, mumbling about the grenade, and that was enough to wake up Blade, who jumped to his feet to help the rookie and was momently stunned when the grenade that had been under his back didn't go off:

"A miracle, I dare say…" Blue mocked and held Nikolai against him, pressing his hunting knife against the rookie's neck. "Time to go."

* * *

It wasn't even dawn and sooner or later rain would pour down on them. Nikolai, whimpering about the cold and the dark, was practically dragging Blue. Blue, on the other hand, insisted he was the one pushing Nikolai, with the ever-present threat of opening the rookie's throat making Blade walk a little ahead of them, constantly glancing behind, but at the same time being completely harmless.

Blue was decided to return to Yanov station that very day. To accomplish that, he was ready to take the risk and go by the road: at least the road was a relatively plane surface, it would be easier for him to walk (or for Nikolai to drag him).

To reach the road safely, Blue opted by following the rocky palisades that bordered that area of Zaton, not far from the caves complex; the plateau above the palisades was already Yanov area, and Blue wanted to reach the road connecting the two areas as soon as possible.

They walked, undisturbed, finding no stalkers or mutants. Though they did step on an electro anomaly and Blade spent a lot time following the incident ranting about the mercenary being careless and wanting to fry his little brother. Nikolai simply cried in shock and pain, and Blue began to wonder if the rookie would ever run out of tears.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Blue could see the road ahead. They just needed to climb (and someone would have to help Blue) over some large rounded rocks and would be on the road.

That, of course, if a pack of blind dogs, leaded by two big pseudodogs, didn't launch at them from the bushes near the palisade…

Blade quickly climbed to the top of the nearest rock outcrop and lied on his stomach, stretching his arms forwards:

"Nikolai…" he called, and both Nikolai and Blue looked at him. Blue, despite his poor performance so far, wasn't stupid: by no means, with his ankle like that, he would be able to climb by himself; and if he let go of Nikolai, he would be abandoned to the dogs.

The mercenary held one of Blade's wrists with his free hand and wrapped his other arm around Nikolai's waist:

"You either pull us, or we'll both be dog food!" he yelled at the Monolithian, and not for a moment he thought that Blade didn't have the strength, because when it came to his «little brother», the mercenary was sure the Monolithian would be capable of everything.

Blade narrowed his green eye, but he didn't argue. He rolled away from the edge of the big rock that topped the outcrop, slowly dragging the mercenary and the rookie with him. Right on time to save them from the dogs, but it wouldn't take long for the mutants to figure out how to make their way to the top of the rock outcrop.

Nikolai was crying softly, thanking Blade nonstop for having been a hero, and Blue, still clutching to Nikolai, knew that if he didn't act quick, the Monolithian would start preaching again and the dogs would find their way to them.

He looked behind them, to the palisade; it was lower now, climbable… if only his ankle wasn't injured. He was about to press his knife against Nikolai's throat again when his arm was suddenly twisted and held in an arm lock. He screamed in pain and forcefully released the knife, that was promptly snatched by the Monolithian. The pistol in the holster hanging from his belt was also quickly removed and thrown away, to the dogs.

And Blade's face loomed over him, and the Monolithian had a big, wolfish grin. Blue knew he was doomed, and for a moment blamed it on the rookie; if he just hadn't stopped to help Nikolai…

Nikolai's head came into view as well, as the rookie stood behind the Monolithian:

"Wait, he saved me from the bandits!" the rookie wailed, and Blue mentally apologised for every nasty thing he had done to Nikolai, because if there was a spark of hope for him, some miracle that would let him wobble away from the Monolithian… it would be Nikolai.

Blade frowned, but said nothing. The dogs barked and growled, reminding the group they were still there and would figure out how to get to them. Blade slowly stood up, slipped the knife into his right boot shaft and removed the backpack and rifle from Blue. With a fluid motion, he threw them over the palisade and both landed with a loud thud and soft crack; Blue guessed the expensive «aquarium» should now be ruined beyond repair, and that perhaps another can was busted and spilling its contents all over the remaining items in the backpack, and that his scope should be cracked. The Monolithian then supported his back against the rocky palisade and bent his knees slightly:

"Nikolai…" he called and gestured for the rookie to come over.

Blue wanted to argue Nikolai should be ladder because, from the three of them, he was the tallest. Yet Blade, the shortest, was undoubtedly the strongest, and the stitches on his chest and shoulders didn't seem to bother him.

Nikolai clumsily climbed to Blade's thighs and shoulders, but he was tall enough to reach the border of the palisade, hold on to it and haul himself up – with a little help from Blade, who pushed his feet up vigorously.

A pseudodog jumped just enough to have a decent peek at what was happening on the top of the rock outcrop and a blind dog discovered a small rock that shortened the distance between it and its meal. With a grunt, Blue dragged himself to Blade, and for a naïve second thought he would be able to retrieve his knife. But the Monolithian grabbed him by under the arms and pushed him up, and using his good foot and a knee for support, Blue was able to climb to Blade's thigh and shoulder and hold Nikolai's stretched hands. The rookie alone wasn't strong enough to help him over the edge of the palisade, but Blade's final push to his foot was.

Blue rolled away from the edge, stiffly, and made one last brave attempt at recovering at least his rifle. Nikolai, however, was faster; he dragged both rifle and backpack away from Blue, looking both defiant and apologetic.

In the meantime, Blade climbed the palisade, strode to Blue and turned him over his back. The mercenary tried to put up a fight, go down with dignity, but Blade placed a knee on his sternum, and Blue knew that, if he didn't go still, the Monolithian would apply full weight and crush him.

The mercenary suspected Blade was either a very experienced fighter… or he had been dealing with a former military who knew his business all too well.

Blade grinned that wolfish grin of his, and Blue turned his masked head to look at Nikolai. The rookie was standing nearby, looking nervously at the two men and at the dogs barking by the rock outcrop. He fidgeted with the brim of his jacket for a bit, before cleaning his throat and looking at Blade:

"What… what do we do, now?" he asked quietly, and both men replied in unison:

"Bad… man… die…" Blade sentenced.

"I saved your sorry arse, remember?" Blue growled.

Nikolai seemed to shrink into his jacket and attempted to hide his face on the bandana loosely wrapped around his neck. Seemed the mercenary's fate was up to him, and even though the man had saved his life, he hadn't been… nice. Not for him, and certainly not for Blade.

The rookie looked at Blade, who had declared them brothers. Nikolai had had older brothers, but it had always been _them_ looking after _him_ and making the big decisions. Not the other way around. Nikolai had always been upset by that, because he too had wanted to decide on what was good or bad, he too had wanted to protect his brothers.

The chance he thought had been stolen from him forever was now standing before him – no matter he barely knew Blade. Yet, he wished it wasn't, because the consequences from his decision could be too many, and he didn't know which of them would please everyone:

"Don't… don't kill him…" Nikolai muttered, and he only hoped he had made the right choice.

Blade slowly stood up and, always looking at Blue, walked over to Nikolai and gently took the rifle from him. He checked quickly to see if it was loaded and still accurate, and then aimed at Blue.

The mercenary cursed, and facing the barrel of his own rifle was the last thing he expected to ever do:

"Check… backpack…" Blade told Nikolai, who promptly opened the backpack and rummaged through it. The first item to go was the expensive «aquarium», and Blue couldn't help but chuckle. A couple of broken cans followed, and when Nikolai was done, he closed the backpack again and attempted to swing it over his back.

Blade, however, decided he should carry the backpack – for the sake of his little brother, who looked like he could easily be snapped in two. Under the Monolithian's surveillance, Nikolai then checked Blue, looking for hidden weapons, but there were none. He simply confiscated the grenades and handed them to Blade, who discarded them to the dogs.

"Wait…" Blue grunted, when the Monolithian and the rookie began to walk away. If they left him, unarmed and with no food, he had little chances of making it back to the Yanov Station. His mission was over and all he wanted was to never see that Monolithian again, but… he needed Blade, because if someone could escort him to safety… that would be him. However, to handle Blade… Blue needed Nikolai.

* * *

Blue was mesmerized by how Nikolai talked Blade into helping him. If only he hadn't been an idiot and had gained the rookie's trust from the beginning, Nikolai would probably have helped him instead of siding with the Monolithian. But what was done could not be undone, and the mercenary figured he should be thankful for having an escort to take him to a decrepit shack not far from the Substation – he could then proceed on his own from there to the Yanov Station, assume the failure of his mission and drink to the memory of a friend lost for nothing.

Blue, dragged by Nikolai, stood between the rookie and the Monolithian, carrying the backpack and the rifle. Blade wasn't pleased about having the mercenary around again, but sparing Blue's life and help him had seemed quite a big deal for Nikolai. And as the older brother, Blade should provide happiness for his younger brother.

However, what was supposed to be an easy and fast trip, turned out to be way too long. It started when Blade spotted a Duty patrol ahead of them and hurriedly pushed both Nikolai and Blue off the road and into a shrubbery, causing Blue to unwillingly put weight on his injured ankle. Blade then made them wait in the shrubs until he was sure the patrol was gone, only to have them proceeding off the road and through the swamps. The same swamps, Blue thought bitterly, where a bloodsucker had fatally injured Hammer. And just when the mercenary thought they would make some progress and proceed undisturbed, Nikolai demanded a lunch break – and fine, the rookie was right, he was the one dragging a man much heavier than him… But little after lunch was over it started to rain, a lot, and since Nikolai didn't want to proceed on the rain, the three of them took shelter under a small lonely tree… and waited and waited; Blade's lower back began to hurt, Blue's ankle throbbed annoyingly and Nikolai shrank into his jacket, complaining about the cold. Blade and Blue eventually had to sit down, each of them hoping to ease what bothered them.

In silence, they waited, watching the rain. Nikolai grew tired and sat down on the grass too. The mercenary, between Blade and the rookie sighed tiredly:

"I hate my life…" he grunted. The Monolithian looked at him and tapped the riffle. "Fuck off…"

Hours later, the rain finally stopped. Blade forgot about the pain in his lower back and jumped to his feet, proclaiming it was time to go. Nikolai stood on shaky legs, annoyed by the feeling of his wet trousers clinging to his backside, and helped Blue up.

They reached the shack at sunset, and Blue concluded he should spend the night there instead of venturing alone and injured until the Yanov Station. Much to both his dismay and amusement, Nikolai was afraid to proceed the journey to the Jupiter Plant in the dark… and of course, Blade decided Blue had to share his little shack with them.

And so, the mercenary ended alone in a corner, while Blade took the chance to explain the rookie how to aim and fire the rifle. Blue observed, frowning under his mask, and concluded Blade would need a lot of work to turn Nikolai into something remotely similar to a fighter. The poor kid obviously wasn't one, and again Blue wondered why on earth had someone like Nikolai come to the Zone.

Shortly after, Nikolai complained he was getting cold. The mercenary, alone in his corner, rolled his eyes and crossed his arms: Nikolai would not survive in Pripyat…

"There's a tree next to the house, I'll get some wood to start a fire!" Nikolai chirped happily, because, now that Blue wasn't in charge anymore, he didn't have to be cold. Blade didn't oppose; Blue had told them there were plenty of stalkers in the area, therefore light coming off that shack wouldn't be strange and worth investigating. So, the Monolithian confidently handed the rifle to the rookie, just in case he needed to defend himself, and Nikolai trotted outside to get some wood.

Blue looked to the Monolithian, who simply stood by an empty and burnt oil drum in the middle of the shack. Heck, how he hated that Monolithian… yet at the same time, couldn't help but feel sorry for him, and also thankful for Blade's willingness to listen to Nikolai:

"Kid won't make it Pripyat," he sentenced, and Blade slowly turned his head at him. Blade, the mercenary thought, should be exhausted and in pain: he had played ladder, had carried a heavy backpack and had certainly broken a few stitches. Yet, there he was, like he was indestructible, and Blade was either too broken by the Monolith or – and Blue narrowed his eyes – he _knew_ what he was doing and was probably ex-military. It would explain his combat skills, his strength and endurance…:

"Shut… mouth…" Blade grunted. If not for Nikolai, the mercenary would be dead already. Fortunately, Blue seemed to have enough sense to know he didn't stood a change, injured and unarmed, against Blade now that he was unrestrained. So the mercenary simply sulked at his corner, humiliated but thankful for being alive. He felt sorry for Nikolai, unknowingly walking to certain death, but there was nothing he could do.

Blade began to pace back and forth, his hands crossed behind his back and his shoulders squared. He would return victorious, his brothers would be invigorated by his success and the Monolith would return, impressed by Blade's heroic deeds. And Nikolai would learn how to fight, would serve the Monolith, and would be rewarded by his services. Blade took another look at the mercenary, and made a mental note about destroying once and for all the underground passage that connected Pripyat to the Zone.

Suddenly, someone screamed in pain, right outside the shack. Blade froze and Blue frowned, and both men exchanged a brief confused look, before Blade removed his newly acquired knife from his boot shaft and carefully walked outside.

Blue had a bad feeling about it and was almost certain it had been Nikolai who had screamed. He cursed aloud, scrambling to his feet, and hopped in one leg to the door:

"Crazy dude!" he called in a hiss, looking around, only to see Blade disappearing at the right corner of the shack. Blue cursed again, grabbed a stick from the ground and hopped towards the left corner.

And his heart dropped to his feet: near the tree Nikolai had gone to pick wood, a bloodsucker had lifted him from the ground and had wrapped its tentacles around the rookie's neck. Wood and rifle were scattered on the grass, Nikolai wasn't screaming or kicking, and the mercenary thought Nikolai was already a goner.

Still, Blue couldn't just stand there and watch:

"Blade! BLADE!" he roared, and at a loss of what to do, balancing himself in one leg, threw his stick at the bloodsucker. The stick, however, was too small and light and didn't even make it halfway its intended trajectory.

The Monolithian appeared at the opposite side of the house, and he let out a battlecry before charging, knife in hand, towards the bloodsucker.

Blue gaped as he watched the Monolithian, shorter than the bloodsucker, jump at it with all his might. The mutant growled as Blade wrapped his legs around its torso, held onto one of its arms and began to brutally stab its neck. The bloodsucker released Nikolai, only to turn its attention to Blade and try to get rid of him. However, it didn't stand a chance against Blade's reckless stabbing, and it soon dropped dead.

The mercenary stood still as Blade, drenched in the mutant's blood, slipped his bloodied knife into his boot shaft again and stumbled to Nikolai, muttering something incomprehensible. Blue watched as Blade lifted the rookie's limp body, and hopped out of the way when the Monolithian ran past him and into the shack again.

He cast a look at the dead bloodsucker. They were near the swamps, what if it had been the same monster that attacked Hammer? Shaking his head, Blue hopped back into the shack.

Blade had lied Nikolai on the floor and was rummaging through Blue's backpack, in search of medkits:

"Kid's alive?" Blue asked from the door. Blade found a medkit and opened it to see its contents:

"Warm…" the Monolithian grunted. His voice was still emotionless, though Blue swore he caught urgency in his tone. Since nothing happened, Blade glanced over his shoulder, to the mercenary; his face was sprinkled with blood and both his eyes were wide. "Warm…!"

Blue was about to curse and ask what the hell «warm» meant, when he understood the Monolithian was referring to a fire. Blue turned around and hopped in one leg to where Nikolai had been collecting wood.

* * *

From his lonely corner, Blue watched.

Nikolai was alive.

The bloodsucker's teeth and tentacles had pierced skin and flesh, but no major artery or any important vein, and its claws had made shallow cuts on the rookie's arms. Blade had quickly tended to the wounds, more efficiently than Blue was willing to admit – honestly, he had thought first-aid was irrelevant to Monolithians, that they would rather suffer to prove themselves as warriors than treat themselves, and that the same applied to their recruits. Yet Blade knew how to clean and stitch and bandage, and he had been fast, and had been talking to Nikolai during the entire procedure, even though Nikolai was simply stared back at him, speechless, not even whimpering in pain. Blade had also foreseen the rookie would be in shock, hence his request for a fire.

Blade now sat facing the flames dancing happily in the oil drum, his back hunched and legs spread. Nikolai was sitting between Blade's legs, with the Monolithian's bloodstained jacket draped over his shoulders. He was quiet, looking to nowhere in particular, and his skin looked ashen and washed in sweat – however, he was shaking. Just a moment ago there had been something off about his breathing, but Blade had muttered something to him and had started to breathe quickly, in shallow and hissing inhalations and vigorous exhalations; Nikolai had mimicked him for a while, and his breathing returned to normal.

Watching them, especially Blade, Blue remembered he had seen that technic of breathing before. Back then he was young and belonged to a riot police unit, and that day his unit had been given training by a Russian spetsnaz… who was particularly insistent with the breathing. Blue couldn't remember the spetsnaz's face, but it had been too long ago for that same spetsnaz to be Blade. Still, Blue was now convinced Blade had been a spetsnaz – Russian or Ukrainian, he couldn't tell, but it didn't matter at all.

Nikolai stopped shivering and burrowed his face on the crook of Blade's neck. Blue waited a little longer, then he spoke:

"Kid's asleep?" And Blade glanced at him. The blood on his face had dried, and the light reflected on his blind eye gave it an eerie appearance. He looked exhausted, and his healthy eye blinked slowly, like he couldn't decipher Blue's question and had been left confused. Then he nodded, slowly, and looked away from the mercenary. "Shouldn't he eat something?"

"No… eat… Vomit… Bad…" Blade grunted in response.

Blue sighed and looked around. The shack didn't have a door, and outside was dark. But the night was quiet, and hopefully no one – or nothing - would sneak on them. He cast a brief look at his rifle, near his backpack, behind Blade. He had brought it, together with the wood, but hadn't even considered using it, and Blade had been so busy with Nikolai that he hadn't even noticed. The mercenary only wished the truce between him and the Monolithian had left the poor rookie out of it…

With another sigh, he dragged himself close to the oil drum, but opposed to Blade. He shivered, feeling the comfortable heat coming off the fire in the oil drum, and wiped dust off the lenses of his gas mask:

"You can't take him to Pripyat, he won't make it," he stated, after studying Nikolai for a bit. He was sure the rookie hadn't lost an alarming amount of blood, but he could go into shock again, or catch an infection. "Even if he makes it alive… it's going to be tough."

The Monolithian was quiet, his green eye focused inwards. But he clenched his jaw and pressed his lips in a bitter line, which meant he heard what the mercenary said:

"Monolith… help…" he replied, and that made Blue laugh joylessly:

"Yeah, sure thing! Look what your Monolith did, the kid could be dead by now!"

"Not… Monolith… I… Fault… Nikolai… Out-side… alone…" Blade snarled, and there was regret in his emotionless voice. If only he hadn't let Nikolai go outside alone, if only he had gone too…

Blue realised the Monolithian truly cared for Nikolai. Why and how it had happened right under his nose and in so little time, he couldn't understand. But maybe he would be able to talk some sense to Blade:

"Yeah, but your Monolith didn't protect him… Look, I can take him with me, he'll get real medical care," But how he was going to do that, with his injured ankle, he didn't know. Blade frowned and wrapped both arms around Nikolai:

"Brother… comes…"

"For fuck's sake, the kid is not your brother! But you don't want him to die, do you?"

Slowly, Blade shook his head. He looked down to Nikolai, sleeping against his chest, and had the sudden realisation he had **failed**.

The bloodsucker… perhaps, it had been the Monolith's doing, a test for Blade. And Blade had failed to help his brother, had proved to be unworthy of leading… He had failed the Monolith. Now, Nikolai was wounded and it wasn't safe for him to finish the journey and go through the tunnel, and the harshness of Pripyat would be no good for him to recover.

Blade clenched his jaw and looked again to the mercenary across the oil drum:

"No…" he finally replied. He did not want Nikolai to die.

The Monolithian sighed and looked at one of his boots. What would be the point of returning to Pripyat, defeated, and further harm his brothers' faith in the Monolith? Besides… the mercenary was injured, he couldn't walk properly, leave alone carry Nikolai…

Blade lowered his head, defeated.

* * *

With no sleep and breakfast at all, Blade still managed to carry Nikolai on his arms and drag Blue after him, the mercenary clumsily holding to one of Blade's arms. Blue was carrying his backpack and rifle again, trying to have the looks of a mercenary returning with a prisoner – which he did not, but there was no one outside the Yanov Station to witness his arrival.

Nikolai was conscious, but he was so quiet and appeared so frail Blue guessed he was still in shock. Still, the rookie could walk, and hopping in one leg beside Nikolai while aiming his unloaded and probably broken rifle at Blade, who walked at the distance of the barrel's length, Blue made his entry in the Yanov Station:

"I brought the Monolithian!" he announced to the few stalkers who stood by the tables, and immediately all chatting ceased and all eyes turned to him.

His moment of glory, yet Blue felt oddly vexed about it. His best friend was dead, he was injured and had certainly aggravated the sprain, and he had only accomplished his mission because an innocent rookie had nearly died and the stupid Monolithian who had taken him under his wing felt guilty about it and had given up resisting.

The shocked silence in the station was broken by running footsteps, and two Dutiers tackled Blade to the floor. After that, the other stalkers began to cheer and clap their hands, because Blue had done the impossible: he had brought a Monolithian alive, for interrogation.

Another stalker approached him, this time to take Nikolai to the infirmary. Blue wanted to go with him, because he knew once he was recovered from the shock, he would want to know about Blade, who had already been pulled up to his feet again and taken to Shulga's office. Blue stood there, watching the rookie and the Monolithian being taken in separate ways, only to shake his head slightly and hop in one leg towards Shulga's office.

* * *

 **Weeeeee, review?**


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